1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods for ionizing solid samples.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exists a technique for ionizing a solid sample in an atmospheric pressure environment in order to analyze components in the surface of the solid sample.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,910,881 discusses a method in which a fine region of a surface of a solid sample is irradiated with laser light and fine particles desorbed from the sample are taken into an opposedly disposed liquid to have components in the fine particles ionized. According to this method, the fine region of the solid sample is irradiated with focused laser light in an atmospheric pressure environment. Upon being irradiated with the laser light, fine particulates of the sample desorb from the surface thereof. Then, as a solvent is brought close to the region that has been irradiated with the laser light, the fine particulate matter is taken into the solvent.
In the method discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,910,881, the solvent is held at a leading end of a capillary, and the fine particles desorbed from the sample are taken into the solvent. Then, the solvent flows within the capillary tube to an ionization unit provided at the other end of the capillary, where the solvent is ionized. That is, the method discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,910,881 requires, as illustrated in FIG. 1, that both a mechanism for supplying the solvent to the leading end of the capillary and a mechanism for allowing the solvent containing the fine particles to flow to the ionization unit be provided in the capillary tube, which inevitably leads to a complicated configuration. In addition, an ionization process for analyzing the components and a process of taking the fine particles into the solvent are carried out at distinct times and locations, and thus an operation for transporting the solvent to the ionization unit is required. Accordingly, a time in a second range is required between the time at which the sample is irradiated with the laser light to be taken into the solvent and the time at which the components are measured (ionization).